Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen indicated this week the central bank is considering a shift away from its pledge to be “patient” in deciding when to start raising short-term interest rates. And as the Journal’s Jon Hilsenrath has suggested, Ms. Yellen may have already offered a hint of the phrase the Fed will use to replace its patience language. Could ”reasonably confident” be the new “patient”? Read More »

Federal Reserve officials continue to see a start to rates rises next year but a slightly slower pace of increases, in an outlook that predicts weaker future inflation gains, according forecasts released by the central bank Wednesday.

In the projections, 15 of the 17 current Fed members said they continue to expect the first rise in Fed short-term rates from their current near zero levels to come in 2015, maintaining a long-held view. Two said the Fed would first raise rates in 2016. Read More »

The Federal Reserve wrapped up its final policy meeting of the year Wednesday by tweaking slightly its guidance about when interest rates might start rising. See a recap here of the key points from the statement and our live analysis from Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s press conference, along with the market reaction throughout the afternoon.

12:45 pm (EST)

A Considerable Fed Meeting

Sudeep Reddy

Welcome to another big day in Fed land. America’s central bankers have been meeting for two days to discuss to death two words in the Federal Reserve’s policy statement: “considerable time.”

That’s how long the Fed had said it would wait to raise interest rates after its bond-buying program ended. Well, the bond-buying ended after the Fed’s last meeting in October so now it needs new words.

With the U.S. economy gaining steam and the global economy losing steam, dropping “considerable time” will be only part of the story today. We’ll get the Fed’s updated assessment of the economic environment and how the central bank might navigate a considerably turbulent environment in the coming year.

President Barack Obama welcomed today’s jobs report, noting that the economy has now created 10.9 million jobs over the past 57 months. This streak of growth is improving the net job creation over which Mr. Obama has presided, though among the last 10 presidents, Mr. Obama still ranks sixth in terms of job creation. Read More »

Economists are a little less worried that the Federal Reserve will wait too long to tighten monetary policy as the economy improves, according to The Wall Street Journal’s latest survey.

Some 74% of the 39 economists who answered the question said the greater risk is that the Fed will begin to raise short-term interest rates too late, versus 26% who said they worry the central bank will raise rates too soon. That’s down from August, when roughly 90% of economists said the greater danger was that the Fed would wait too long. Read More »

Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher said he’s concerned that if the central bank waits too long to raise interest rates it could throw the U.S. economy into recession, speaking in an interview in the German daily Handelsblatt. Read More »

Central bank policy makers should be wary about raising interest rates even though slack in the labor market is diminishing, a senior Federal Reserve official said Friday. Chicago Fed President Charles Evans welcomed the latest jobs data, but said a rush to raise rates from near zero was the greatest risk to the U.S. economy. Mr Evans said he expected the U.S. economy to grow at a 3% annual pace over the next 18 months, while inflation would remain below the Fed’s 2% target. Read More »

President Barack Obama and Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen on Monday discussed the economy and financial oversight at the White House, in their first one-on-one meeting since Ms. Yellen was sworn in as the central bank’s top official in February. Read More »

The Federal Reserve’s decision Wednesday to end its bond-buying program helped moved the needle of formal opposition at the central bank from the camp of officials opposed to its ultra-easy credit policies to the group wanting them to continue for a long time to come. Read More »

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